The common wisdom of Japan’s foreign and security policy is that the alliance with the U.S. is one of the most important variables. On the other hand, Japan has continuously worked on building new relationships beyond the U.S.-Japan Alliance since the Cold War. Should we, therefore, question the common understanding?…
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Foreign communities in Japan, and their local supporters, are calling for lawmakers to scrap proposed changes to the country s immigration law. The revisions, which critics describe as inhumane, involve the forcible deportation of asylum-seekers who fail to prove a case to stay as refugees.
Public demonstrations started outside the Diet as lawmakers began debating the revisions on April 16. Protesters are staging daily sit-ins outside the House of Representatives. The Solidarity Network for Migrants Japan presented the government with a petition containing 106,792 signatures demanding the draft be scrapped.
The Ministry of Justice is presented with a petition on April 22. Signatories want the proposed changes to Japan s Immigration Law to be scrapped.
Academics oppose ‘top down’ university governance reform
A new amendment to laws governing universities, making its way through the Japanese parliament, the Diet, has sparked opposition from academics who say it will strengthen top-down management of national universities and further erode autonomy and freedom in higher education.
Japan’s House of Representatives (lower house) passed the amendment on 22 April to strengthen the role of auditor in national universities. The amendment bill is now awaiting final passage in the House of Councillors.
An official at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology said the amendment is part of the government’s reforms to promote university autonomy.
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Japanese politicians are debating amendments to the country s immigration law in an attempt to address the long-term detention of some foreigners. But the UN has already come out against the proposals, saying they would do little to change the situation.
One expert says the issue should be discussed not as a policy matter, but rather as one that has to do with the views on foreigners that undergird Japanese society as a whole. My daughter was a kind person who devoted herself to other people.
The mother of Wishma, a Sri Lankan woman who died at an immigration facility in Nagoya, held an online news conference on April 16. She called on the Japanese government and immigration officials to publish a report detailing what happened to her daughter.
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